Man charged with sexual assault on Asheville woman

A city man is facing charges in what police describe as a brutal sexual assault in West Asheville.

The incident was reported shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday along Pond Road, according to an Asheville Police Department search warrant.

Nicholas Nacoleon Harding, 43, was charged Saturday with with first-degree sexual offense, first-degree kidnapping, assault on a female and assault by strangulation, according to warrants at the Buncombe County magistrate's office.

According to a police search warrant, Harding followed the victim as she got off a bus near her home Saturday afternoon. The two did not know each other.

Asheville detective Scott Piper wrote in the warrant that the victim "stated that the man grabbed her by the hair and threw her down an embankment and dragged her under a bridge. The female attempted to escape and the man struck her about the head several times. The victim tried to escape by hitting the man with rocks and burning the man with a lighter and both failed. The man then put his hands around the victim's neck until she could not breathe."

The suspect then sexually assaulted the woman, according to the warrant.

After the assault, "the man then demanded that the female meet him the next day or he would send someone to 'take care of' the victim," according to the warrant.

After the victim reported the attack to police, officers spotted a man who matched the attacker's description walking along Brevard Road and picked him up. The victim later identified him as the man who assaulted her, according to warrants.

Police obtained a search warrant in order to take DNA samples from the suspect.

Harding is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Facility under a $165,000 secured bond.

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Man charged with sexual assault on Asheville woman

Nicholas Nacoleon Harding was charged Saturday with with first-degree sexual offense, first-degree kidnapping, assault on a female and assault by strangulation, according to warrants, which state